Can political parties narrow the intra-party winner-loser gap? An experimental test of the moderating impact of strategic communication

Abstract

Recent empirical studies show that winning or losing an intra-party decision affects party members' attitudes and behavior concerning their party. This paper builds on these findings and examines how political parties can narrow this intra-party winner-loser gap. More specifically, it argues that the gap in attitudes and behavior of party members is influenced by how the outcome of a decision is justified. A survey experiment conducted among two Flemish parties examines the effect of winning or losing the decision of government participation and the moderating impact of focusing on a specific set of a party's goals and negative references to other parties. Results show a negative effect of focusing on a specific set of a party's goals on the level of decision acceptance but this effect does not spill over to other potential attitudinal or intentional behavioral reactions including party and membership satisfaction, support for the decision-making process, activity within the party, leaving the party, and casting a deviant vote. In addition, no moderating impact is found for negative references to other parties.